Falling for Bug Boy?
by StormyRawr
Summary: Chika believed in being friendly to people. Even if they were really creepy and had bugs all over them. She had been one of Shino's true friends. After a while, he began to act oddly around her. To make matters more awkward, Chika began to feel some feelings towards Shino which she had never thought she would feel. It seems that one or two people have been bit by a love bug.
1. Chapter 1

Bugs are really creepy. To me, that was a fact of life as a child. It did not pop into my mind that other kids enjoyed bugs. Shino Aubrame had certainly given me a surprise, he had them all over him. I could have used that knowledge when I first met him as a small child with a big fear of bugs.

"Hello-eeeek!" I began to say, but cut off into a scream. Within seconds, my legs began to pump and I was off.

The first time I had ever encountered him, my young ginger self ran away and screamed as soon as I saw the bugs crawl around his clothing. Bugs had always given me the creeps, and it made a bit uneasy to think of somebody who easily let the bugs crawl all over them. It had just seemed a bit off to me.

Nevertheless, I had felt bad for screaming and running away from the boy. I wrote an apology and stuck it at his desk as soon as I saw my chance. His bugs had intimidated me to a level of not wanting to be around Shino in the slightest. I truly felt ashamed of myself.

Over the years, I had been able to grow to be able to stand bugs. From a scared Academy student, to a worried Chunin. I felt accomplished about how much progress I made when it came to seeing bugs. It was a completely different story if one landed on me though.

"H-Hey Shino!" I called out to him with a smile on my face as I walked over to him. He was walking down the village street and looking at the foods. It had been weeks since I had saw him due to missions that both of us seemed to be constantly sent on. My stomach churned a bit when I saw the bugs. I might have wrinkled my face when I saw the bug also, I wasn't quite sure.

_"Just because he has bugs does not mean he is not a good person. Even if they are really creepy." _I thought to myself mentally as a reminder.

"Hello Chika." he shortly said to me when I had reached him. "I see that you still dislike my bugs."

My eyes widened, and my face began to blush from embarrassment. I sweat dropped a bit and waved my arms around as I began to talk. "N-No! It's not that I dislike your bugs. They just happen to creep me out a bit to be honest. Come on, you know that bugs freak me out a bit! Why do you have to make me feel bad about it?" I threw my arms in the air and sighed.

"Yet you continue to talk to me." he said to me and I grinned happily.

"One thing about you that I dislike, does not define who you are." I said in a jovial tone and grinned even more. "Besides, I bet there are things about me that you dislike but yet you still talk to me." I added and things were quiet for a few moments. I decided to break the ice with a simple question on something we shared common ground with. "So do you know when Naruto is going to come back? It's almost been two years."

"No, nobody has any idea. Not even Lady Tsunade." Shino responded to me and I sweat dropped upon hearing that knowledge.

_"Some village we live in. Even our Hokage doesn't know when a knuckle head is going to come back." _I thought to myself.

"She must really trust that old sleaze to allow him to watch over Naruto for a few years. Maybe she was drunk on sake when she said yes?" I asked him, but quickly nodded my head from side to side and sighed. "Naruto better come back with really epic moves. He better remember all of us too."

"Do you think he will remember me?" Shino asked me, and I grinned at his response. It was nice to see that Shino cared about what his comrades thought of him. Playfully, I poked his barely shown nose.

"Who knows. Nobody can see much of you when you wear that." I said and chuckled a bit.

"Are you implying that I take it off?" he responded in such a serious tone that I choked on air as a perverted thought crossed through my mind.

"Yes, no wait no, wait- I don't know!" I squawked out in a panicked tone of voice. "It would be nothing sexual if it did though!"

"I see." stoically, he replied and I was a bit worried for a few seconds.

_"Did I hurt his feelings?" _I mentally asked myself and felt my stomach drop. _"I need to stop hanging out with my mom too much. Her perverted habits are rubbing off on me now."_

Even if we were ninjas and supposed to be as tougher than stone, I had always worried about others feelings. I knew that someday it might get the best of me, but I was willing to risk that than rather hurt somebody else. Becoming a ninja was what truly made me realize how strong people's emotions were. I saw the thankfulness that people had when something was done for them. I saw the anger others had shown when their plan had been toiled. I saw others become depressed when they heard somebody precious to them was hurt.

It had then become my goal to do good as a ninja and help as many others as I could. No matter how difficult the task. Which was why I saw befriending Shino to be something truly important since he was not quite the social type. Everybody needed friends to fall back on when they were down.

"What exactly do you see?" uncomfortably, I asked him and twiddled with my thumbs a bit.

"That-" he began to say, but got cut off.

"Chika!" a voice yelled from the distance, with a bark following afterwards. Within seconds, Kiba and Akamaru appeared beside us. Akamaru gave a jovial bark and I could see his doggy smile. "It's been a while since I've seen you. Oh hey Shino."

"Hello Kiba." Shino said in his regular emotionless voice.

"Have you guys been off on a lot of missions? Tsunade is a slave driver with how many missions she's been sending me out on." Kiba complained and rolled his eyes. "I swear that I'm only back in the village for just a few hours before I'm sent off on a mission again.

"Maybe she just wants you away from the village for a while." I said mischievously and stuck my tongue out at him. "I bet she's worried about a flea outbreak."

"Hey! Akamaru is one of the cleanest dogs in Konoha!" Kiba protested and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh I wasn't talking about Akamaru. I know my handsome pooch is clean. Who knows where you have been though." I said and chuckled a bit. "You look as though you could use nice a wash."

"HEY!" in an offended tone, Kiba yelled and pointed at me. "You better watch what you say. Otherwise-"

"You'll kill me with your fleas. Okay, okay. I'm sorry." I said and waved my hands in the air in defeat. Kiba had a vein on his forehead for a few seconds. After that, he began to laugh and I joined in.

Suddenly remembering that Shino was there, I turned to him. "Have you been sent off on a lot of missions?"

"Yes." Shino responded, and I sweat dropped at how short his response was. "You do remember the meeting Tsunade has called for all the available Chunin tomorrow night?"

"What, there's a meeting?" Kiba asked with wide eyes in shock.

"Correct. She wants to discuss how she wants to rotate missions between the Chunin due to complaints about too many missions. All the Chunin that are available in the village are supposed to be there." Shino said and Kiba fist pumped in victory.

"It's time that old hag gave us time to breathe!" he yelled and grinned. "I have to go and train because I've barely had time to do any of it. I'll see you guys around."

"I have to go and help prepare for dinner tonight." I said and smiled lightly. "I'll see you guys at the meeting tomorrow night then!" After that, all of us said our good byes and went our separate ways.

When I got home, I was in for a scare when I saw what was on my shoulder. I had made quite a noise party trying to get the miscreant bug off of me. I was not happy when my mom came in and suggest that I had a friend over since I made so much noise.

My mother was going to be the end of me, not my compassion towards other's feelings.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as I had saw Shino in the meeting room, I walked over and smacked his head. I was not too much of a violent person around my friends, but Shino knew about my fear of bugs. My hands went onto my hips and my facial expression had clearly shown my annoyance. He was never much of a joker. If that was his attempt of his joke, he had failed miserably at it.

"Shino Aubrame," I said through gritted teeth. "I don't know what you were trying to pull with that bug trick, but it was not funny."

"I had not meant for it to be funny." he said to me as he rubbed his head with his hands. "Was it needed to hit me?"

"Y-Yes!" I stuttered out in surprise and in an attempt to stand my ground. I furrowed my eye brows together in confusion. "What was it supposed to be then?"

Instead of answering me, Shino turned away and became quiet. I had gotten even more frustrated at his lack of a response. He did put a _bug_ on me, albeit he knew about fear. It was angering to know that he was being uncooperative about answering me. I did believe that hearing somebody's reason for doing something could make or break a situation. However, I couldn't apply that belief into my current situation with Shino since he would say nothing.

"Okay, listen up!" Tsunade yelled from the front of the room. Right away, all of us merged into a few vertical lines facing Tsunade. "After getting a lot of complaints about the amount of missions I have been sending people off on I thought it was needed to have this meeting."

I heard Kiba mutter under his breathe just next to me. "Slave driver."

Then random voices began to mutter also.

"About time."

"I hadn't seen my wife much in weeks."

"I have a kid to take care of."

"It's about that old hag started to listen to us."

The last remark was what made Tsunade explode. It was not a pretty sight to see.

"YOU ARE NINJA!" loudly, she shouted to us. I jumped a bit in surprise because of her sudden change in her tone of voice. "YOU CAN COMPLAIN ALL YOU WANT ABOUT MISSIONS, BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT WE NEED TO KEEP GOING AT THE PACE THAT WE WERE GOING BEFORE THE VILLAGE WAS ATTACKED! UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE ATTACKED AGAIN BECAUSE OTHER VILLAGES THINK WE ARE WEAK, STOP BEING LAZY ASSES AND GO ON YOUR MISSIONS! YOU CAN COMPLAIN ALL YOU WANT, BUT IF YOU COMPLAIN IN FRONT OF ME ONE MORE TIME I WILL _DESTROY_ YOU. EVERYBODY IS SACRIFICING SOMETHING FOR THE GREAT GOOD OF THE VILLAGE! WHEN YOU GO ON MISSIONS, YOU ARE HELPING PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES BECAUSE OTHER VILLAGES THINK THAT THE LEAF VILLAGE IS STILL STRONG!" things were quiet for a few moments as she let it set in. "That is all, are all dismissed!"

When I looked over at Kiba, I saw how white his face had become. Despite the fact that Kiba acted courageous and tough, he was fearful of Tsunade and her strong fists. Many of us had seen the destruction that her fists could cause when she had been training Sakura.

"It's okay Kiba, we just have to hang in there just a little while more until we get things under control." I said to him in an attempt to comfort him as I patted his back. "Just because you complained before doesn't mean that she will hold it against you."

"How do you know?" Kiba asked me in a bit of a worried tone. "She doesn't look like the type of person to let things go. Besides, she just lectured all of us as if we were still in the Academy."

"Oh I think there are some things she will let go. Come on, now all of us have some more bonding together since we lived through one of her lectures. Not many people can say that probably." I said with a soft smile on my face. "But just do _not _be stupid enough to complain to Lady Tsunade again about the amount of missions you're being sent on. Then she will most definitely hang onto that and kill you."

"Such reassuring words." a voice said behind me and I jumped in surprise. When I turned around, I saw Shino there. A vein formed on my forehead.

"So now you're willing to talk?" I snapped at him and turned to the side. Goose bumps formed on my arms when I thought about the bug onto my. It took almost all of my effort to not cringe as I remembered the bug.

"Woah, did something happen between you two?" Kiba asked with big eyes in shock. "I never thought a fight between you two would happen." Ino had just overhead Kiba and walked over.

"Chika, what happened?" she asked me with her hands on her hips.

"_This_," I said and pointed at Shino. "bug boy had planted a bug on me!"

"Shino, I had no idea you were a secret perv!" Kiba yelled in surprise and my face began to turn red. Ino had smacked Kiba for me, and I mentally thanked her.

"No! He didn't put it at an inappropriate place, it was just on my shoulder." quickly, I explained and did my best to ignore my red face. "It's just that he know about my fear of bugs, but still did something that he had known would have a bad effect on me."

"Aw come on, I bet Shino feels bad about it." Kiba piped in and Ino was turning her head from side to side in disagreement.

"That still does not make what he did okay." she said and Kiba turned towards her.

"Shino's a great guy!" he yelled and Ino crossed her arms over her chest.

"Great guys don't mess with somebody's fear." Ino retorted and sent a glare to Kiba.

"Everybody messes up though." Kiba retorted back and sent the glare right back to Ino. He took a step towards her with an aggressive look on his face.

"Messing up is when you do something on accident. Shino did this on purpose." quickly, she replied and took a step towards Kiba also. I began to sense that things were getting too spicy too quick. I took a step between the two with a sheepish look on my face.

"Thank you both for your concern about the matter, but this is between Shino and I. I would greatly appreciate it if you two walked away from this situation." I said to them in a sweet voice. After a few moments, both of them took a few steps back.

"Just talk to me if you need anything." Ino said to me before she walked away.

"She won't talk to you, because she won't need to." Kiba muttered under his breathe as he walked away in the opposite direction. When I looked around, I saw that more and more Chunin were leaving the room.

"It seems that those two have sucked all of the anger from out of me." I said and sweat dropped a bit. "So are you willing to tell me now, why you put a bug on?"

"No." he said and I sweat dropped even more. "I am sorry that I scared you, that was not my intention."

It took me a few moments of thinking before I answered him. "You had good intentions, right?"

I was a sucker for people screwing up and having good intentions. For some reason, that could make me forgive a person right away. I could pity a person right away or get the instinct to hug them. It was a great weakness of mine.

"Yes." he said and I smiled happily. "Do not let that be the reason you forgive me though." Then, a confused expression was formed on my face with a frown following afterwards. "I know it is one of the reasons on why you so easily forgive others. You need to guard yourself more."

"I do guard myse-" I began to reply but got cut off by Shino in mid-sentence.

"That will be your downfall." he said and I defensively crossed my arms over my chest. "An enemy will find a way to use that against you."

"You can say that all you want, but I believe that there are good people in the world. Just because somebody is our enemy does not mean they are a bad person." I said in a bit frustration.

_"Looks like Ino and Kiba did not suck out all of the anger inside of me." _I thought to myself.

"Think what you want, but that will be your downfall." he said to me and I angrily stomped away.

If I had stayed there anymore, I knew that I would get so frustrated to the point that I would smack that idiot again.


	3. Chapter 3

"That's crazy to give us an A ranked mission when it is just the three of us Chunin!" I screamed at Tsunade after receiving the news about Kiba, Shino, and I's newest mission.

We were going to be guarding a princess to her home country for coronation. She had just finished up the paper work in Konoha, but needed to be escorted back to her home country. However, when Tsunade mentioned that she was targeted with some money over her head and it was an A mission, Kiba and I had flipped out on her.

"What had I just said to all of the Chunin about complaining over their missions just a few weeks ago?" she asked me through clenched teeth and a vein on her head. Her eyes were closed and she was clenching her sake bottle also.

"That doesn't matter anymore, this is something completely different!" Kiba yelled in protest and slammed his palms on her desk. Akamaru barked from behind as a form of agreement.

"Chika, Kiba, it is best not to question lady Tsunade's motives behind this." Shino said to us. "If she is willing to send us on this mission, we should be willing to go."

"Shino how can you say that? Kiba and I don't care! This is more of a Jonin or ANBU mission. You are sending us on a death mission. There has to be somebody else who can go on this mission." I said an attempt to reason with her as I stood in front of her desk.

"We are short on ninjas at hand as you know." Tsunade replied in a deathly calm voice. "We are so short on hand that we have to send some Chunin on higher ranked missions than they are ready for because they are the ones in most supply. It does not matter how long you have been a Chunin. As soon as you are Chunin, your skills have reached a level equivalent to doing higher missions. See this mission as a chance to improve your skills. NOW STOP COMPLAINING AND GET READY TO LEAVE FOR YOUR MISSION! I AM DONE LOOKING AT YOU." she yelled at me and I flinched. It was never a good time for anybody to have Tsunade yell at them. "Shizune, guide their team out and give them the rest of their information about their mission. If I hear Chika or Kiba talk again, I will kill them myself."

"Follow me." Shizune commanded us and walked out of the room with a packet of papers in her hands. Reluctantly, Kiba and I followed her into the hallway. Shino was able to follow her with ease, which bothered me for some reason.

It has been a few weeks since he and I had talked or looked at each other. What he had said about my downfall had bothered me. I had questioned what was wrong with my empathy and compassion for others. In the end, I was helping others and was not too concerned with myself getting hurt. After all I was a ninja, I was made to protect myself and others. The phrase continued to go through my mind many times. It was as if I was in a replay genjutsu because that was all that had went through my mind those few weeks.

"You are to escort Princess Eri back to her homeland as lady Tsunade said. Despite the fact that she does have a bounty over her head, it is not too big of a bounty so she should not be too much of a target to hunters. Here is what she looks like." Shizune explained to us and then showed us a picture of a beautiful girl with short purple hair and green eyes. The smile on her face had spread happiness to me. I could just tell that she was going to be a great feudal lord.

After we had gotten the information of which inn to pick her up at and which country was her homeland, we scattered and got ready for our mission. It was agreed that within half an hour we were going to pick up Princess Eri from the inn and head out to escort her home.

"So, you're going on an A ranked mission." my mother said to me as I grabbed a small bag and began to pack. "Who are you going with?"

"Kiba and Shino." nonchalantly, I replied and continued packing. I had hoped that my mom would have forgotten that I told her about Shino and the incidents.

"You know what you should do, you should stab Shino in the crotch." she said and I choked on air at her response. "You need to assert your dominance on this mission and show that you are in charge. I am guessing that Kiba will not want to mess with you after he see that you did that. In fact, you would probably scare off all the enemies if you did that."

"_Mom_," I said in disbelief at her words. Then again, it was most certainly not the first time she had said something similar to that. My mom was blunt and perverted. Nevertheless, she was still a Jonin with a great set of skills. As shocking as that was to some people. It was a dream of mine to work beside her some day. "I will not stab a comrade in the crotch. Especially when we will need all the help we can get on this mission."

"Fine, be a good person." she replied and rolled her eyes. A soft smile was placed onto her lips as she looked at me. "I'm glad we have been able to talk like this through out the years. I know that lately we have not been able to see each other much because of missions, but I really do cherish this time shared between us."

"I do too mom." I said and looked at her with a smile on my face as well. "I'm still not stabbing Shino in the crotch." she grunted and rolled her eyes again.

"Why not? It is such a great plan. Besides, it would be pay back for him putting a bug on you. So you should be allowed to do this one thing." my mom explained to me in an attempt to get me to agree.

"Because we really do need all the help we can get on this mission." firmly, I answered her and closed my bag. "Besides, we both know that he is not the only one who has planted a bug on me." I glared at her and my mom sheepishly scratched her neck.

"To be fair, I did it as a joke and did not think you would freak out as much as you did." she said and put her hands on her hips. "This is a boy we are talking about. Boys have hormones and who knows what was going through his mind when he put that bug on you. He could have been peeping and hoping to get a good look at you. Who knows what jutsus his family have came up with over the years." the protective motherly look was plastered onto her face. "This is no offense to Shino's father, because he is a great man who does his missions quite well. I just know what teenage boys are up to and think of."

"Mom, I am going with Kiba." I said and then repeated myself for extra emphasis. _"Kiba_."

"You know what, just kick their asses if either of them give you any crap. You are independent enough. After all, you are my daughter." proudly, my mom said with a satisfied grin on her face. I rolled my eyes at her.

"I rather get to know Shino's reasoning for it than to just assume things." warily, I said and walked towards the door. "I will see you after this mission. I will come back safe and sound."

"You bet the ass that you got from me that you will." my mom said and winked at me.

I once again, rolled my eyes at her.

My feet began to move and I walked out of the apartment. As I walked towards the inn, I made sure that my bag was securely strapped on. Never again was I going to have another mishap of losing my bag during a mission. That was a bit stressful to have no weapons with enemies nearby.

Within no time, I reached the inn. Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru were already there waiting for me. When I got closer, I saw that Princess Eri was all set and ready for us. As soon as she saw me, she sent me a smile and I could not help but smile also. Her smile was a contagious disease.

"You must be Chika, Kiba has told me quite a bit about you." Eri said to me with her holy smile still on her face. "So you really like bugs?"

"Kiba!" I yelled and smacked his head. A confused look was put onto Eri's face. "No, quite the opposite actually. I am very afraid of him."

"How do you do missions with Shino then?" she asked me and put a finger onto her cheek as she wondered. "Ah I'm sorry, you must be a very professional ninja to put your fear aside and work with somebody who has your fear all over them."

"You could say that." I replied and began to walk towards the entrance of the inn. "So are you guys ready to escort this beauty back to her homeland?"

Woot woot! c: Updated a day earlier than expected. I'm sorry that I don't talk so much here on Wattpad. School has just eaten up my free time with the homework and then I just want to relax after that. However, I took advantage of this light homework load and decided to update this story. (: What do you guys think of it so far? What do you think of the mom? It is a bit creepy how she came out so similar to me.

Have a great day lovelies and stay fresh. Farewell!


	4. Chapter 4

"So are all of your missions like this?" Eri asked us as we were escorting her home country through a rural pathway.

"Some of them. Missions can vary for how different they are and what type of mission they are for difficulty." I explained to her and her eyes were wide in awe.

"That is amazing how you do so many different things! You must be so skilled in a lot of those fields." in amazement, Eri said to me with her eyes shining.

"It varies on the person." Kiba said to her and went into detail. "Shino is better at long range than Chika and I. Chika and I are better at talking with people though, we give off a friendly vibe. Shino here gives off his own type of special vibe." jokingly, Kiba said and slung an arm around Shino's shoulder.

Despite the fact that Kiba was getting a death glare from Shino, Eri was oblivious to it and looked at us all in awe.

"I sure hope that I have good enough qualities and skills to run my homeland country." she said in a worried tone.

"Well," Kiba began and took his arm off of Shino in an uncomfortable manner. "Did you get taught anything or trained in preparation to rule it?"

Eri thought for a few moments before she replied. "I was given many training sessions in preparation of me becoming of age to rule." Eri's face still showed that she was worried.

"I think it is more in the confidence you have of yourself and you knowledge between right and wrong that makes a true good ruler." I said to her and patted her head.

"You are forgetting strength." Shino said out of the blue and Eri's eyes went to him.

I got frustrated again at Shino. Whatever was up with him, he would not hint at what it was. Instead he was a jerk to my good intentions. I sent him a glare and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I think that once you have good confidence and good morals, strength will come naturally after you work at it for a bit. You do not need strength right away because it is something you will get anyways."

I thought that whatever Shino was going to say would make me fume, but it did not. In fact, Shino said nothing. _That_ frustrated me more than anything. He had dare to say something earlier, but not have enough guts to answer me. I was fuming, but I did not say anything to him.

"So Eri, tell us what it was like to be a princess." I said in an attempt to switch the subject and to keep my anger uncontrolled.

"What is was like? Well when I was younger I would observe my father do business with his friends. I think that I grew up like any other child because I was close with my parents. I did not have many friends, but I did have some that my father would have over at our house whenever I asked him and it was good timing. Once I became of age, I was sent to Konoha to do paperwork to become the feudal lord. After that, I am supposed to have my ceremony and become ruler. I am excited to help the people and protect them, they are so kind to me."

"Wow, you sound just like a normal person." Kiba said bluntly and I rolled my eyes as Eri giggled a bit.

"That might be because I am. Just because I have an odd job does not mean I am an odd person. It just means I have an odd piece in my life." she said and ran her fingers through her hair. "Enough about me though, how did Kiba get this big of a dog?"

"Who, Akamaru?" Kiba asked and rubbed Akamaru's head. "I guess to me he is still so small because I am around him all the time."

"You should have seen him when he was a small pup. He was more adorable than he is now." I said and smiled as I remembered Akamaru in his pup days. Akamaru's bark pulled my mind away from the memories. "Sorry Akamaru, you are still adorable to me."

"You guys sure do live an exciting life." Eri said as she looked at Akamaru with a smile on her face. "I have been wondering why are we taking this pathway?"

We could not blame her for being curious about the path we were taking. Since we were with a princess, we had decided that it would be best to take a less busy route so there would be less of a chance of people recognizing her. If somebody did come after her on this route, no innocent bystanders would be affected.

"Oh, just for safety measures." I said and waved my hand lightly at her. "Don't worry about it, you'll be fine. We promise."

"It's good to always have your guard up." Shino said to me in his usual emotionless face.

"Thanks Shino, I was unaware that you were willing to talk to me now." I said and sent him glare. "Nice to know you are willing to say things but not ready to follow through with your point."

"Chika, come on. Shino is just meaning his best." Kiba said to me in an attempt to be the peace keeper. "We have to keep our attention on the mission."

"You're right," I said and was quiet for a few moments while I was in thought. "I'm sorry Shino."

_Wait-oh damn it! There I go, being a nice person and forgetting right away that somebody was mean to me. Something is up with Shino and I plan to get to the bottom of it. No way I can let this Bug Boy get away how he is acting. Showing no respect is just disrespectufl! _I thought to myself in my head and scrunched my face together. _Maybe I need to start to learn how to stand my ground. Show Shino that my kindess is not my downfall. Nobody else has made me think that my kindness was a bad thing. _

"We have made plenty of progress for today, it is starting to become sunset and it will take us a while to set up." I suggested to the others.

The others agreed and we began to set up right away. Eri was excited to help and did almost half of the setting up. I gave the girl credit, she was caring and helpful. I knew that she was going to make a great ruler of her country. She just needed some more confidence in herself.

We decided to take night shifts for who would be on guard. It was Kiba, me, then Shino. Eri looked as though she wanted to do a shift also, but knew that she would not be able to help much since she was not strong enough. Also because of the fact that she was the person being guarded.

It was not until after about two hours that Kiba came out to me during my shift. I was peacefully sitting with my legs cross on a rock, facing the tent with a kunai in my hand just in case. When I saw a tired Kiba walk out of the tent, I chuckled because he looked a bit confused since it was early in the morning.

"Chika?" he asked me and looked around.

"Yes?" I replied and smiled at his facial expression. Kiba did not seem to be much of a morning person at all. Then again, it was close to one in the morning and anybody would be tired at that point in time. That did not make Kiba's face any less amusing though.

"Do you know where the best place is to take a leak?" he asked me and I sweat dropped a bit.

"In the Hokage's office?" childishly, I replied to him and stuck my tongue out. It was a long time inside joke that we had shared for many years. Anytime one of us mentioned it, somebody was going to smile.

"Okay, thanks." drowsily, he replied and began to walk into the woods with Akamaru following after him. I rolled my eyes at him and chuckled. Those two were close.

Peacefully, I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the woods. Despite the fact that bugs terrified me, some of their noises were soothing. Slowly, I breathed in and out and felt very calm. Even on a mission, there was beauty to it.

When I heard Akamaru bark from Kiba's direction, I bolted straight up an dreadied my kunai to fight.

"Akamaru! Kiba! Is everything oka-" I tried to ask them, but got cut off by a sudden bomb. It was a kunai bomb.

I then realized that we were under attack.

Hello there! I apologize for not being able to update last week. I was very busy with school and over the weekend I was sleeping over at a friend's. I am sorry I was lazy. :c I hope you enjoyed this chapter though. Do you see any change in Chika from the begining of the story to now with how she is thinking about her kindness?

How are you guys? How is school? LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS OF SCHOOL FOR ME! I am pumped for the summer. How much school do you have left? (:

Have a kick booty day guys! Farewell. c:


	5. Chapter 5

_We have to protect Eri! _

My thoughts inside of my head yelled as I ran towards the tent to pick her up. When I got inside, Shino was awake and looking around in a defensive stance. Eri had seemed to have awaken from the noise of the bomb.

"Shino, you take care of the enemies outside. I will take Eri to Kiba." I said to him and he nodded. Quickly, I picked up Eri and ran out of the tent. After a few seconds, I heard another loud explosive behind me.

"Chika, what is going on?!" she asked in a mixture of a frantic and worried tone.

"It looks like you do have some money on your head. Some enemies just ambushed us and Kiba will be taking you to safety. Shino and I will stay behind and fight back the enemies. Do not worry, that was our back up plan in case anything happened." I explained to her and as soon as I saw Kiba and Akamaru I sighed in relief. Despite the fact that both of them were in battle. "Kiba!"

"Switch off?" Kiba asked me and I nodded. In a swift movement, he jumped back and I pushed Eri into his arms. I took out some shrunken and threw them at the enemy. Kiba jumped onto Akamaru and ran off to take Eri to safety.

"You're mine now." I said and the man a classroom length away from me scoffed.

He looked similar to a bandit. The outfit he wore consisted of all black and a bit baggy clothes. His hood was up and covered his face. I noticed that he had black straps around his leg. When I looked more closely, I noticed a bag was wrapped around his leg.

_That must be where he has a supply of kunai or shruniken bombs. If I can get ahold of that, then maybe I can take advantage of the battle. _I thought to myself and pulled out a few shrunken of my own. Just then, he threw some kunai at me. Swiftly, I flipped to the side and threw some kunai to intersect some of the kunai thrown at me. A bomb was hit and an explosion happened between the two of us. I was thrown back a few feet from the force.

There was some dust in the air and I took that to my advantage. I lunged forward towards the enemy as other explosives were heard from Shino's direction. When the enemy realized I was running towards him, he threw some more bombs in my direction. I used the force of motion in my feet to help me flip into the air and spiral towards him.

"You're not going to get me that easily!" I yelled as I began to form hand signs. "Water Jutsu: Ten Swords of Punishment!"

Water swords were spewed out of my mouth towards the enemy. The water swords were as strong as steel and did take up a bit of chakra to use. Times were dire though. Our main priority was to protect Eri. The enemies had to be taken out first and I saw no need to waste my chakra in small moves when I could attempt to get the enemy out of the way by using my best jutsu.

One of the best parts about the jutsu, was that when the swords made impact onto something and exploded they acted as small knives. I had to do my best to avoid the aftermath though because they could have easily hit me as the enemy.

"Gotcha!" I yelled with a grin on my face as I saw the enemy fall a bit. I took that as my sign to try to take the explosives. I quickly attatched some wire to a pair of kunai then threw one kunai at him. Then I threw the other down in hopes of trapping him.

I then landed on top of him as he was trapped between the ground and the wire. I felt his blood from the water jutsu. Carefully, I held up a kunai and was holding it to his throat. I nerviously shook a bit. Just as I pushed the kunai closer to this throat, the man yelled at me.

"Go ahead and kill me! The world would be perfectly fine without me." he screamed and I froze. Slowly, my hands went to his hood and pulled it down. I saw tears had formed in his eyes. "Just put the world out of the misery of having me here."

Most others would have taken that as their chance to destroy the enemy right then and there, but my inner helper was coming out. I had to tell him how much worth he had.

"You idiot!" I yelled at him in frustration. "You have to try your best in the world. You are only worthless if you continue to tell yourself that you are. While you tell yourself that, you are taking away time you have to better yourself. You can make your life so good."

"You are telling your enemy to keep trying?" he asked me in disbelief.

"To keep trying to make his life better! Kidnapping Eri will not make your life anybody. Look where that path has led you so far. If somebody else were against you, you would have been dead. Luckily for you, it is I. Look at this as your chance to keep going." I said to him and he lightly smiled at me with an odd look in his eyes.

"Such sweet words." softly, he said to me with a light smile on his face. "Too bad they will be the last ones you will say."

"Wha-" I began to say but suddenly felt multiple kunai in my back. They decorated my back with their metal moonlight shine.

"You wouldn't think that we would be stupid enough to put all of our cards on the table?" he asked me and laughed deviously.

"Y-You t-t-tricked." my voice had disbelief in it as I looked at him with big eyes and blood oozing down my back.

"If somebody else were against you, you might have lived. Unluckily for you, it was us." he said with a smirk on his face and I felt another kunai hit my back.

In a swift movement, I was kicked off of him by his teammate. As I rolled across the ground, I felt the kunai shift positions in my back. It was when I saw enemy two pull out multiple kunai with bombs them, that I tried to get up and fight. He quickly threw it at me and I screamed in horror as I fumbled with my weapon pouch and tried to get away.

_I won't be able to intersect all of them. _

Suddenly, thousands of bugs appeared and stopped the bombs. They intersected them and bug guts flew every where.

"What? Kyaku should have been able to handle the other guy!" the main enemy shouted. Bugs began to swarm around both of the men and they began to scream in agony. "Oh kami!"

I had no time to process the fact that bug guts were on me. Shino appeared in front of me on one knee. When he looked up to me, he pushed his glasses up and began to talk.

"You let the enemy take advantage of you. You jeopardized the mission and your life." he said to me and I was suddenly frustrated to the point of tears. "I will help bandage you up, but you need to try to not let your feelings get in the way of the mission anymore."

"You know what Shino? I get it! I get that I am too nice of a person at times. Fine, you were right about my downfall. It is in my nature to help people. Do you think that I had wanted things to go this way? Do you think I wanted to be literally stabbed in the back multiple times? But I am going to keep trying to be a nice person because I honestly believe that one small act of kindness can change things! I have heard what others have said about me behind my back. I have head from multiple people that my niceness will get me killed and that I should toughen up, but I ignore it because I honestly believe that I can help change things. I don't care that to others I am naive. This is who I am Shino. So instead of constantly lecturing me, just please accept that. I am sorry you have a terrible teammate that does not want to so easily hurt others!" when I finished my rant, I was shaking and had tears running down my face.

He was silent for a few moments before he answered in his usual tone of voice. "If that is all, I will bandage up your wounds for you."

"Fine." I choked out as I turned around and let him pull the multiple kunai out of my back. It was when he had finished pulling them out and began to wrap around my chest that I thought to myself.

_Damn it. Even when I am ranting I can't help but to say please._

Ahoy there! What did you guys think of this chapter? This chapter hopefully helped show you guys how much of a nice person Chika is. I apologize for the lack of booty action, blame Shino for being a slow slug. xD How are you guys? How is school? c:

Have a wonderful day and stay swell!


	6. Chapter 6

My face was red in embarrassment as Shino carried me to Eri and Kiba. As soon as he had helped bandage my wounds, I was picked up and put on his back. I was not embarrassed because Shino had to wrap the bandage close to my chest, but because of how much his point was proven that night.

_I still believe in the goodness of people. However, it might be smart of me to acknowledge that there are bad people in the world. _I pondered to myself as I laid my head on Shino's shoulder in exhaustion. My breathing was a bit heavy since I could feel my wounds throb.

"How are you feeling?" he asked me in his usual tone of voice.

"Let us just say, that I am not worried about your bugs at the moment." I replied and rested my eyes. "I am sorry that I yelled at you like that Shino. I was mad at you, but I think I was more mad at the fact that I was deceived. Sometimes things become so hard to be this optimistic." My voice had gone weak and I was even more embarrassed than before. "I am giving it my all though because I truly believe I will make a difference."

_To think that a simple battle like that could cause me so much damage. Iruka Sensei would have been disappointed to see how much I stunk at telling if the enemy was lying or not. _I wondered and buried my face in Shino's shoulder. Despite how uncomfortable it was, it was better than risking him see the red shade of shame on my face.

"If you are an optimist, then I think it is possible for me to be a pessimist." Shino said to me and had my full attention. "At a young age I have accepted that some people will dislike me. Even if they have no reason."

I wanted Shino to say more. My ears were ready to be filled with a life confession and a life story from him. Sadly, Shino must have thought that was enough to say or immediately regretted saying it. After that, he said nothing else to me. Part of me wanted to push him to tell me more things. The other part of me knew it was best to let him have his space. My second part had won over my conscious and I kept quiet.

After a few more mintues of Shino jumping from branch to branch, a group of bugs emerged from Shino's jacket and went ahead of us. The bugs did not make me jump in the slightest. That made me realize how exhausted I was. My wounds had been pretty deep, but I had had wounds as deep as those before. It made me question the battle a bit. Was it my mentality at the moment that was making me feel as crappy as I was?

As soon as I coughed and some blood came out, I realized that I was not as well as I thought I was.

"Shino, I just coughed up some blood. This does not seem alright." I said in a bit of a worried tone. Then, my eyes widened in horror as I realized why my blood had come from my mouth. "I think they hit some of my vital spots."

"You did not notice?" Shino asked me and I shook my head. "You need to pay more attention."

"I-I had some things on my mind." I said and felt my face go red from embarrassment again.

_Shino seems to always be one step ahead of me. He had been able to defeat the enemy while I could not. I need to train more and become strong enough to protect myself and others. Or else all my training to become a ninja would have been a waste. _I wondered and tried to ignore the pain that my body began to feel.

"As soon as we reach the others, we can give you some more medical attention. Our objective right now is to regroup." Shino said to me and I shook my head in agreement to the plan.

"Shino, thank you for being a good comrade and saving me." I said to him and breathed slowly as I felt more and more pain. Inside, I cringed as it began to sting.

He nodded his head and thought for a moment before he replied. "That is the duty of a comrade."

_He is such a splendid ninja. It is no hassle for him to follow the rules and fight enemies. Shino could go as far as he wanted for ranks. _I pondered and smiled a slight bit. _I guess I am lucky to be able to work with him. Maybe we even each other out with our thought processes. This just leaves me to make a moment of mine to show him the goodness in people. That way even the moments are balanced out._

So Shino continued to carry me as he jumped from tree to tree. After a while, the sound of the forest and Shino's feet against the wood sounded like a lullaby. My eyes began to get heavy and I felt a tired spell take a hold of me.

_Never would I have ever though I would take a nap on Bug Boy. _I thought and chuckled a bit from the irony of it. _Oh how unexpected life can be. _

"Do not fall asleep." Shino commanded and I jumped a bit from the surprise. "It does not matter how worn out you are, you cannot fall asleep at the moment."

I blushed again from embarrassment. It seemed that within the past hour I had shown any and all of my stupidity to Shino. My best hope was to play it off. "Okay Shino, I will keep you company. We wouldn't want you to get too lonely." I had thought about pinching Shino's cheeks and had even moved my hand but decided against it. He and I were not as close as Kiba and I. It would have been awkward.

"You were about to touch me."

_Damn it. Never try to get away with something when you are around a ninja like Shino. _I thought. Mentally, I cursed myself at being caught.

"What made you stop?" His voice was his regular voice. I was unsure how to answer him.

For some reason, my heart started beating fast. Instead of focusing on the pain my attention had been pulled toward my heart. There were a few theories running through my head on why it was speeding up but I ended up just blaming it on nerves.

"I just thought that it might have annoyed you if I pinched your cheek." I said and gulped as I attempted to joke around. "Besides, you are the one carrying me so I thought that it would be a bad idea."

"Is that all?"

Shino was on a mission to get that answer out of me. Whether it was pulled lightly or from the depths of my soul. If anything was proven during my Academy days, it was that I was horrible at lying. I was the worst in the class at it and everybody knew it.

After I gathered my thoughts, I answered him. "I just thought that our friendship is different than other friendships I have. If you want a friendship where I pinch your cheek, then we can hang out once we get back to Konoha and see if we can have our friendship grow." I suggested with a bit of hope.

Shino was silent. His habit of being silent had begun to terrify more and more each time. It was crazy to think that just around ten minutes ago I was frustrated at him. At the present moment, I was terrified of him. Oh how things could change so quickly.

"Okay."

That answer put a smile on my face. I was not hesitant to pinch his cheek anymore. My smile went from ear to ear in happiness and relief. "I must warn you, a day with me will be a day you can never forget. So if something embarrassing or stupid happens it will be in your mind forever."

"I will keep that in mind." He replied back.

The rest of the trip to catch up to the others was silent. I do not think either of us minded that. It left both of us alone to our thoughts. My thoughts were about the sounds of the forest and how peaceful it was. The peacefulness made my wounds feel less significant. After a while longer, we saw the others.

"Hey Chika! Hey Shino!" Kiba yelled from the distance and Akamaru barked in excitement. When we were close enough and Shino moved to a rock so I could sit down, Kiba's eyes were wide. "What happened to you? Don't tell me you were clumsy in battle."

"No way." I said and crossed my arms over my chest. "Unlike you, I do not trip over my own drool."

"So you drool during battle?" Kiba asked me with an amused look on his face.

"It does not matter if I do or don't because I make sure I leave a nice pathway for myself. Unlike you." I retorted and chuckled. When I felt a shock of pain from my stomach I leaned over in pain.

When Eri saw me, she almost lost it. "Chika! I am so sorry you got hurt because of me. If I was strong enough I would have stayed back and fought with you." She was close to tears.

Lightly, I waved my hand. "It is okay Eri. I got hurt because I am not too well of a ninja in some departments."

"I am just so sorry." Eri choked out and began to cry. Kiba and I both attempted to calm her down. All of our voices made it sounds as though we had ten people with us rather than four and one silent person.

It was then that Shino spoke up. "Kiba and Akamaru, you guys calm down Eri. I will tend to Chika's more serious wound." He commanded and took a step towards me. Kiba looked a bit frustrated to have been bossed around, but he sucked it up and did it anyways.

_Again, Bug Boy shows how much of a great ninja he is. _

Ahoy there lovelies! What did you guys think of this chapter? How are you perceiving the characters? Is Shino out of character? I feel really good about this story and I am trying to put all of my best efforts to make sure this book comes out well. (:

Have a great day and smile! :D


	7. Chapter 7

"Thank you all so much for helping me!" Eri cheerfully squealed as she shook our hands. "I am so sorry for all the trouble that I caused." Her eyes went to me and I saw a guilty look on my face. I sheepishly sweated and waved my hand.

"Oh getting injured is just part of the job. It was my fault for being injured." I replied and tried to wave off her guilt.

"I just feel so awful." She gushed to me. "I have an idea!" Her pointer finger was pointed in the air and she grinned. "You guys could all stay here for a day to rest. You can stay for some nice meals. Not to seem uppity, but I cook some great meals."

Both Kiba and Akamaru had their faces light up in excitement. Akamaru let ouf a happy bark while Kiba whooped. He grinned as he walked over to Shino then put his arm around his teammate. "Come on Shino. We could stay here to relax."

The Aubrame seemed to be in thought before he spoke. "Chika, how are your wounds?"

"They are doing fine at the moment. I think it would be a good idea to get them checked out though." I answered him and gently touched the sides of my stomach.

"We have some doctors here!" Eri pipped up in a hopeful and eager tone mixture. "I am sure they would be willing to check out your wounds."

Shino's attention went from Eri back to me. I could sense that the descision relied on my input. Kiba gave me a pleading look with his hands closed together as if he was praying. _What a lazy sack of bones. _I thought to myself and mentally shook my head. _Oh why not. My wounds do need some medical attention and a day to rest would be the perfect opportunity. _

"I think it would be best for us to stay."

Kiba, Akamaru, and Eri all celebrated. Kiba fist pumped the air while Akamaru barked and Eri squealed as she clapped her hands. Shino showed no signs of whether he was happy with my descision or not.

"Alright." Shino said and then pointed at Kiba and I. "You will both need to tell Lady Tsunade that it was your idea to push the mission back another day instead of arriving at the village right away for another mission."

Kiba had slowly stopped pumping the air as Shino talked. When Shino had finished, Kiba had a dark and sad aura around him. He then remembered Tsunade's wrath and shuddered. "Chika, you and I will need to stick together through this. Because obviously _somebody _is willing to let his comrades suffer."

"Oh hush Kiba. We kind have brought it upon ourselves." I said and waved my hand lightly. "Maybe if we bring her back some sake she will be somewhat okay with it."

Kiba looked a bit surprised at my reaction for standing up for Shino, but shrugged it off and a mischevious grin appeared on his face. "Bribery will be the best way to deal with Tsunade."

"Our minds are too similar at times." I said with a smile on my face and playfully slapped his arm. I knew that Kiba, Akamaru, and I were going to make the most out of our stay for a day.

"My my, your wounds are just so..." The nurse said and wandered off near the end of her sentence. I could tell that she was a bit shocked at my torso.

For some reason or another, my torso had the most scars out of any place on my body. It was just much easier to damage that than a knee or leg, to me. My torso was not a war zone full of scars but it had more than people would have expected. Ninjas did not have perfect skin. We had skin that got blisters, burns, wrinkly from water, and scars from wounds.

"I know." I said and chuckled a bit. "It is a bit shocking to see. I am a ninja so I have a feeling that has something to do with it."

"Are all ninjas scarred like this?" She asked me in a shocked voice.

It took me a few moments to think of an answer. After a while, I was finally able to think of one. "Well, it depends on the ninja I think. If you ask a medical ninja who stays on the sidelines most of the time, they won't have many scars. If you ask a medical ninja who is always on the battle field and risking their life, they will have more scars. Tai jutsu users have the most scars out of any ninja. They use their body while fighting. Ninjutsu users tend to have a bit less than tai jutsu users. Genjutsu users do not have too many since they do not interact with their enemy much. However, it all depends on the person." Carefully, I explained to her and she wrapped some wrap around my torso.

"You ninjas sound very brave." The lady said in a dreamy tone of voice. "Enough of me drooling over how brave you are. Your wounds are all bandaged up and will be perfectly fine. Just take it easy for the next few days."

"Thank you." I said to her as I stood up and walked towards the door. "Have a wonderful day." When I opened the door, I saw Kiba there with Akamaru next to him. A vein formed on my forehead. "Kiba, were you trying to peek at me?"

"What?" He asked me in confusion. His eyes then widened and he began to stumble over his words. "No way! Wait, I don't mean that in a mean way. I just would never peek at you. Stop shoving words into my mouth! It is just that you are like a sister to me and there is no way I would peek at my sister. You know..."

I rolled my eyes at the scene in front of me. Kiba continued to ramble on in an attempt to explain himself. However, he had lost my attention a long while ago in his speech. My mind went somewhere else as he continued to keep talking. Shino appeared in my mind. He was definitely going to make sure we paid for slowing down our arrival to the village. I realized that I had made the wrong choice by deciding that we should stay for another day.

"Kiba shut up. I just realized I made the wrong choice by us staying here." I said suddenly and disrupted Kiba in his ramble. His eyes widened in amazement.

"You just read my mind! I was about to get there. Shino has been bugging me this whole time about us staying another day. Well, not talking to me about it but he keeps giving me this glare of disappointment. I have a feeling he really wants to get back to the village for some reason." He explained to me and I nodded my head. "I don't know why he wants to go back so much, but it seems really important to him."

"You just can't sleep when there is the possibility of Shino glaring at you the whole time." Smugly, I teased Kiba and then grinned. Kiba sheepishly sweat dropped a bit at being caught for his true motives.

"There is that, but he is my teammate and I figured I should try to do something nice for him when I can. Besides, I don't want to give him another reason for thinking I'm a shitty teammate. We have been annoyed by each other for such a long while, I figured since we have been less annoyed with each other lately, I shoudl take advantage of it." He explained to me and Akamaru barked in agreement.

A joyful smile was placed on my face when I heard that. Kiba had ranted to me many times in the past about Shino. It was nice to see that he was trying to befriend his teammate whom he had troubles with in the past.

"Okay, you tell Eri that we have to leave and I will tell Shino the good news. I have a feeling you want to be able to tell Eri goodbye by yourself." I commanded and then winked at Kiba. He wrinkled his face and stuck his tongue out at me as he headed towards a different side of the house.

"Shino! I have some news I think you might like." Cheerfully, I yelled as I ran over to him. He was seated in front of a pond and seemed to be looking at the bugs around it. His head rose up from the bugs and turned towards my direction. When I reached him, I panted a bit from exhaustion.

_I was stupid enough to forget about my wounds. _Mentally, I cringed at my stupidity.

"You are not supposed to run." He said to me and I sweat dropped a bit.

"I forgot about my wounds." Sheepishly, I replied. "I have good news though. We are heading back to the village now. My wounds have been checked out and wrapped pretty well. Kiba said that there was something back home that you really wanted to see." When Shino did not say anything, I was a bit worried. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Thank you."

For some reason, my stomach felt something when I heard those words.

I apologize so much for the lateness of this chapter and if it does not flow too well. I started the chapter a while ago but stopped because of school. I am realizing that it good to continue writing or else you get a bit rusty. School ate up a tit load of my time and I would have been more stressed if I updated during those times. However, school is out now. (: I have been in a poopie mood lately, but I going to perservere and continue to update. Hopefully that brings a smile to my face. c:

How is school for you? Are you out of school yet? How is the path of life going for you? My last question is, why do you think Shino wants to get back to the village so badly? c:

I hope you have a wonderful day and smile. (: Bless you if you are still in school. P.s. The video on the side is Attack on Titan related. It just makes me smile. xD


	8. Chapter 8

"That was nice of Shino." My mother said and smiled gently as she chopped up some vegetables. "Did you thank him?"

"I, uh, I think I did." Sheepishly, I admitted and scratched my head. "I can't remember exactly-"

"You need to thank him right now!" She roared and gave me a glare. "Do you know how kind that was of him? Some guys would have run the other way. Well, most ninjas worth their headband would save their teammates. There are some that are selfish cowards though."

"Do not worry mom!" I yelled and waved my arms around. "I am pretty sure I thanked Shino. I only got back from the mission today so my mind is a bit blurry."

My mother sighed and looked at me sympathetically. "I am a mom who loves her favorite and only child. I have been in the ninja world much longer than you have and I have more experience than you. There are times when terrible and terrifying things happen, but you have to keep going. It is difficult for me to acknowledge that you are going to have to go through that too."

It was then that I admired my mother even more than I did before. She did have imperfections, in fact many, but I still loved her. I felt as though the universe knew I would need a mom like her. She was strong, funny, courageous, and caring. It was odd to see my mom look vulnerable in a way, but it showed how human she was.

Happily, I smiled as I replied. "Then maybe I will come out as amazing as you are."

"Hell yeah I am amazing." She said and strokes a pose. "I am one amazing person. Anybody who says otherwise is a liar. Did I tell you how I prepared my new teammate to be on my squad?"

I groaned because I knew that poor person probably went through a living nightmare. My mother had a thing for making sure her teammates were ready for anything and everything. Her squad did very important and high ranking missions. This made her want to make sure her teammates were ready for anything.

"What did you do to this poor person?" I whined at her. Part of me was scared to find out what she did.

"Stop always showing pity for any newcomer. I am just mentally training them." She said.

_More like mentally torturing them. _I thought and scrunched up my face.

"Anyways, this guy was a shy guy. This made me want to test him even more. So when he went to the bathroom, just seconds after he was in there, I attacked him." She explained and saw the look of horror on my face. "Stop looking at me like that! He was not prepared for that attack. I know what you are thinking, 'That is invading personal privacy and yada, yada, yada.' Do you think the enemy would wait until they were out of the bathroom? Nope, you have to be ready for _anything_."

"Mom that is a good point you have there." I said and sweat dropped a bit at her. "That is a little over the top. What happened to him after that?"

"That slow slug is still on our squad. I can only hope that with my kindness and amazing characteristics, I can turn him into a fighting machine." She said with passion burning in her eyes. Luckily, somebody knocked on the door at that very moment.

"You do your cooking, I have this." I said to her as I walked out of our kitchen and towards the door. When I opened it, I saw Shino there. "Shino, what are you doing here? We have already reported our mission to Tsunade and she said we can go to her tomorrow for some missions around the village."

"We agreed that we would hang out together for a day. Neither of us have missions today. I thought that we could hang out today." He explained to me and gave me what I guess was one of his looks. "Did you forget our agreement?"

My eyes widened in shock. "No, no, it is just that I did not expect it to be today."

"That is what you get for not expecting the unexpected!" My mother shouted in victory. I simply rolled my eyes at her. "By the way, yes you can go hang out with him. Have fun! Oh, thank you Shino for saving my daughter!"

"It was no problem." Shino said in his regular tone of voice and then looked at me. "Are you ready?"

"Uh, yeah," I said and tried to grab a hold of what was going on. _What is going on with my stomach? It did not feel that way when I was at home with my mom. I thought it would go away when I got back from my mission. _

We walked through the village together. For a while things were quiet, but Shino spoke up. "Is something wrong? You are more quiet than usual."

"What? No, it is just that my stomach is acting weird." I explained and Shino nodded.

"You might be constipated." He said to me in a serious tone. My eyes widened in shock and my face went red from embarrassment as I waved my arms around.

"No! It is not that. It is not bad; it is just different than usual." In a panicked manner, I explained. At that moment, I wanted to hide myself under a rock in embarrassment. My eyes avoided Shino because of how embarrassed I was. _Constipated? I see where he is coming from, but that suggestion is just so, not something you say in public. _

When I finally looked back at him, I saw he had an eye brow raised. "Would you like me to use my bugs to-"

"Nope, that will not be needed." I said and waved my arms around. "I am sure whatever it is will go away. No need to bring bugs into this situation. Thank you for your concern." He nodded and we continued to walk around the village together.

There was something about seeing the people of the village be happy, that always made me happy. They felt protected by the ninjas and looked up to us. I felt even happier when I remembered that I was helping the village. Even if I was a small part of a big picture, I was still glad to help.

My thoughts slipped to Shino. I had been friends with him for years, but did not know much about him. That thought made me a bit mad at myself for not asking him. _Now is better than never. _

"Shino, I just realized we have been friends for a long while but I still do not know much about you." I remarked to him.

"What do you want to know?" He asked me and I thought about it for a few moments.

"Why did you become a ninja?" I asked him.

"It runs in my clan." He said and I sweat dropped at his short reply.

_You do not want to even try to elaborate on that answer? _I thought to myself. I shook my head to try to rid myself of my nonsense. "Okay, next question, what is your favorite type of food?"

"I will show you." He answered and took a sudden turn to the right onto another street. For some reason, my stomach began to act up even more. "What is your next question?"

"Uh, I, uh," I began to stutter out. For some reason, my mouth was not working with my mind at the moment.

Shino then stopped and turned towards me. "Are you sure your stomach is fine? You are not your usual self. Are your wounds healing correctly?"

My face then went red again. "No, I promise I am fine." I said to him and waved my arms around. "You can show me your favorite food, I will be fine."

He looked at me for a second more, but then turned away. His legs started to walk again and I followed him. _What is up with me today? I am not usually like this. _I inhaled heavily and then exhaled in an attempt to get my act together.

After a while of walking, we stopped in front of a fruit shop. I was shocked. I had no idea what I thought Shino's favorite food would be, but it did not cross my mind that it could have been fruit. Shino must have seen how shocked I was since he pointed it out.

"You appear shocked."

"Yeah, I was not expecting this. I had no idea what I was expecting to be honest." I explained and he nodded his head. We then walked inside and Shino looked around. He grabbed two peaches and set them on the counter. The peaches were paid for under a minute and one was then put in one of my hands.

"I have to say Shino; you have a great taste in fruit." I happily said with a smile as I bit into the peach.

"I know. The scraps help make food for certain bugs." He said and I sweat dropped a bit.

"What a thing to say on a da-" I then stopped in midsentence. My eyes widened in shock at what I was about to say.

I then realized that no matter how much I disliked bugs, Shino was giving my butterflies in my stomach.

What did you guys think of this chapter? How is Shino coming along? Is he out of character at times? Come on guys, you can give me the cold hard truth. I can take it. *Shows off nonexistent arm muscles* See; look at how strong I am. cx

How are you guy? QUICK! Tell me one thing you really want to do this summer. c: I really enjoy hearing what you guys have to say about the chapter, how you are doing, or if you really want to tell me a butt joke. I would really appreciate that butt joke and probably chuckle because that is where my maturity level is. cx

Have a swell day and smile. ^w^


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